THE BEAUTY OF SERVICE

A sign of Aquarius is a sign of servant, it is a man with a jug of water on his shoulders, so full, that water is abundantly poured outside. A jug on shoulders can be consider as character of service. Serving is not easy thing. It is necessary to give a lot of forces and time, to sacrifice own interests, to work very much and tensely. For service there are needed certain qualities: self-oblivion, tolerance, wisdom, directed efforts, ability to work without attachment, stability and persistence.

In our time a man only begins to study service. Therefore we can look, how in our real life the service acquires sometimes the distorted forms. For example, there is an attempt of servant to stick to surrounded people his point of view. All that such servant considers useful, kind and true, he diffuses on the colleagues and requires from them the same self-feedback, devotion and love.

We often consider as service our help to poor people, sufferers, to invalids, to those who seams to be unhappy, although actually it simply is uncomfortably for us to be near such people, and we restore our calmness, deliver ourselves from suffering.

Often benefaction appears the result of self-confidence, ambitions, desire to excel or confirm, become noticeable, to be look like the ideal, but not the result of spontaneous compassion to needing people.

Also charity can be manifestation of deeply secret desire of spiritual perfection for those, who know that one of the attributes of discipleship is service. We may add also, that the reason of service can be fashion, consuetude or tradition; an anxiety about other delivers from loneliness, helps to find new friends and often gives a servant more than he gives.

In all of the examples listed above likeness of service really present, but its veritable essence, true intention is absents. True service is a spontaneous radiation of loving heart. The Law of Service is expression of Great Life which flows through our Higher Self and realized through our lower vehicles. Service is not simply some quality and not making the default of certain actions, it is not activity to which one need to aim, and not the means of individual or world rescue. Service is a natural quality of our true Self, our Higher Nature, it is the same engine of its evolution, as aspiring to self-preservation or reproducing for our animal soul. Compassion, sympathy on a need, an unselfish action in the name of higher good is a specific and inalienable feature of the heartfelt opening. It is a characteristic feature of our Divine nature, similarly as a desire is characteristic feature of our personality.

Service is the effective method of self-disclose and self-perfection, because exactly through an action there is verified the degree of our maturity, the truth of our world-perception, the purity of our intention. Through perfecting and developing of the forms of our service, we harmonize the world around us, at first in our direct surrounding, than in more and more wide range, and, finally, we become the explorer of Divine Will, which in one of our lives begins to pour out to our nation, our country, the whole world.

It is therefore impossible to teach service or stick it to a man, if this intention does not come from within, and based only on the theory of service. Neither a theory nor imitation do a man the real servant. He becomes the real servant only when Higher Will conduces him to realisation of Divine Plan, when he consciously submits the Law of Sacrifice. True internal knowledge is sharpened and converted into wisdom only through the service for others.

Humanity does not head for casual unmarked course – there is the Plan. Humanity itself sets on its own speed of the evolution and execution of its fate, in obedience to this Plan. Success depends on the loving conscious collaboration of all human beings, who undertake the responsibility for their own fate, joined by intention of creating the new, the best world. The ideals of Brotherhood and Freedom are everywhere acknowledged and provide indissoluble unity of purpose in the infinite variety of human aspirations and beliefs.

Today there appear more and more people who respond to the call of their Higher Nature, therefore we can see considerable growth of charity and philanthropy, but frequently it demonstrate deep imprint of personality. Thus the idea of service is perverted into and looks like business, is replaced with ambitious attempts to compel others to serve in obedience to our pictures of blessing, and the love to people is replaced with the love to power and lays obstacles to real service.

Service is a living stream of love, spontaneous giving, demonstration of light and beauty, creation and joy. Time will come, when it will not be necessary to call a man for service, when conviction and criticism will disappear, nobody will interfere with other to serve for his own consideration, when everybody will simply pour out active creative service from the jug of his Soul, forgetting about his little self, and finding possible directions of best action and sphere of his service.

Today, at 135th anniversary of Theosophical society, we can say with a complete confidence, that its history abounds the examples of true service. We remember a self-feedback and disinterestedness of H.P.Blavatsky, H.S.Ollkott, A.Besant and many others in the different countries of the world, who got through crucibles, but carried the ideas of theosophy, maintained clemency and compassion to humanity, because they were lead by their Soul.

Each of us possesses in oneself this wonderful ideal and knows the concrete examples of selfless and sincere servants.

The beauty of their service gives us forces to work and move farther, overcoming doubts and failures, to purchase understanding and experience, and to get to know at once, that real service is the state of true joy and love.